A Must Read
• Tom & Lorenzo "One Iconic Costume" a fascinating funny and poignant piece on Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz
More Links
• Paper terrific piece on the new generation of queer comedy: Matt Rogers, Grace Kuhlenschmidt, Alex English, Cole Escola, and many more.
• Cartoon Brew despite Academy efforts toward gender parity the animation and visual fx industries are still struggling with inclusion of women. (Only 1 in 8 people invited to join the visual effects Academy branch are women this year.)
More after the jump including Hamilton, Netflix hit 365 Days, best of the first haf of the year and more...
• IndieWire How Hamilton did "color-conscious casting" before it was mainstream
• Variety Earl Cameron, one of the first leading black actors in the UK, has died at 102 years of age
• TFE our list of the 200 oldest living screen stars (in case you missed it) and which we try to keep updated
• Two Dollar Cinema sees what the fuss is about (or doesn't) with Netflix sex title 365 Days
• The Guardian on Cate Blanchett double Hulu's Mrs America and Netflix's Stateless
• Vanity Fair 25 years worth of 4th of July Box Office winners ranked
• Rick's Real/Reel Life looks at the De Havilland / Davis picture In This Our Life (1942)
Halfway Mark
Here at TFE we usually share a big list of fav movies and performances of the year thus far but we've seen less new movies this year than at any time since... 1991? We've mostly been stuck on old movies for the Smackdowns and longing for movie theaters. But other sites with their huge staffs managed to keep up so here are some 'best of year' lists posted around the halfway mark.
• USA Today 10 best films: Shirley, Bacurau, True History of the Kelly Gang, etc...
• TVLine Best shows of 2020: Normal People, What We Do in the Shadows, I May Destroy You, Agents of SHIELD (resurgent for its farewell season) etc...
• The Ringer 25 best thus far: Never Rarely Sometimes Always, First Cow, Babyteeth, etc...
• Vulture best films of 2020: The Whistlers, The Assistant, Beanpole, etc...
• Esquire 30 best films of 2020 (thus far): Bad Education, Da 5 Bloods, Emma, Crip Camp, etc...